


Rocky Relations: a drabble collection.

by Heartofaquamarine



Category: Dialogues - Plato, SHELLEY Percy - Works, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: ...although that won't stop Peridot from trying, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Fusions leave traces, Gems get TOO into movies and TV, Gen, Lapis is super unhelpful, Rose Quartz breaks into the academy, Sadie stabs things., Steven likes watching crying food, The Diamonds are Idiots, What does Rose mean by My Pearl, With apologies to Shelly, and no one wants to be the one to tell her to go away, everyone cuddles, except Lapis, leggy is sad, someone plz save the confused rectangle, the gems don't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:09:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7815409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartofaquamarine/pseuds/Heartofaquamarine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of 100 word drabbles about Steven Universe. Prompts accepted. </p><p>Drabble 13. Gems are too invested in media and Diamonds share powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Man" intoned Plato in response to his student's question "is a two legged animal without feathers."

There was a rough ripple of discussion sweeping the assembled students of philosophy. Diogenes was planning to catch a chicken when a hush went over the crowd as one student pointed to an alcove. A mound of pink hair, as tall as a man and twice as heavy, indicated where the mysterious woman was hiding. Poorly.

Plato rolled his eyes. "That is a rock, not an animal." Fools.  
He was just glad the thin one wasn’t here. She thought the academy was a comedy.


	2. Plural and Singular

Ruby was born on a desolate moon, two systems away from Homeworld. She was barely free of the rocks when her squad leader pulled her up and off into the ship, away from the dying world.

She fitted in well. She liked the others, even if they did get confused and ask her about things that happened more than one cycle ago. Fusing was good. She liked being big, being together. She didn't know anything else. 

It went wrong. The fusion broke. They were all scattered. She'd never been alone before. Ruby curled into a ball and floated, and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to make this into a drabble series. Feel free to send me prompts either here or on my tumblr (heartofaquamarine).


	3. Sharpened Sticks

Sometimes Sadie looks at her broom when cleaning and remembers the island, remembers that fight. She shakes her head, and begins the bit that Lars was supposed to clean that day.

Sometimes she sees Connie with Steven, sees in brief photo glances how the girl has grown, fiercer and stronger. Sadie notes the sword across Connie's back, wonders how that would feel to wield. She lets the daydream linger longer.

She watches the gems fight on the beach. She gets too close, gets saved by Amethyst. She is scared, no; she is angry. 

Later that night, she sharpens her broom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out long days of travelling are great at focusing the mind on drabbles. Feel free to send any prompts or ideas either in the comments or on my tumblr (same username)


	4. Favourite Show

Steven likes the Crying Breakfast Friends because there's no hiding anything. Pear will own up to her mistakes (while crying). If someone thinks they don't matter, they say it (while crying) and everyone gathers around and says they matter and everyone is crying a happier type of crying by the end of the episode.

When the rest watch it with him, Garnet's eyes twitch under her visor. Pearl's face is rigid and her gaze steady. Amethyst buries under the blankets and makes rude comments while refusing to come out. Steven doesn't say anything, but hugs them a little bit harder.


	5. Skimming Stones

Amethyst skipped a stone across the surface of the sea and watched it disappear over the horizon. She picked up another stone and ignored the sound of Lapis landing behind her.

"Peridot and Steven are worried about you."

Amethyst sent the next stone flying.

"They won't stop saying how they hope you're ok."

A mutter "So? What do you care?".

"I don't." Blunt. "I'm just with them a lot and want them to shut up and not worry about you."

Amethyst was quiet. Lapis picked up her own stone and mimicked her actions.

They stood there for hours, skimming stones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote this one at like 12 midnight after being up since 6am because a guy annoyed me by boasting how good his writing is and I was like "I could do better and I'm half asleep!"
> 
> I'm writing this note at 1am so I have no idea if I was right or not.


	6. Parts

Fusions leave marks on gems.

After meeting Smokey Quartz, when the congratulations had finally finished and Steven sent to bed, Pearl retreated into her room and slowly danced upon the fountains.

 _Oh gosh, isn't Smokey just darling?_ The remains of Sardonyx, brash, and just unformed, bubbled up in Pearl's mind. There was a indeterminate thought of agreement from half of Opal, who was always a little somewhere else. Deep within her, a quarter of Alexandrite rumbled in happiness.

Deeper still, a part that had not emerged for years asked a small question.

 _But why wasn't I the first to return?_    
  



	7. Ozymandias

Pearl remembered the face etched into the stone. It was a human king, one of many that she had outlasted. Her memory was visually perfect, photographic (although holographic might be more accurate). She remembered the look on the faces of the humans who served and died under him. She remembered how he had boasted of his martial prowess, how he would carve his name into the tomes of history forever.

Were it not for the writing on the pedestal, even she would have forgotten his name.

She kicked the top of a dune, and let the sand cover him completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To read what was written on the pedestal, try the poem I based/stole this from.


	8. Cuddles (prompt)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot's relation to cuddling

Peridot did not particularly do cuddling. Her body lacked the dopamine and oxytocine of humans, and unlike her fellow gems she lacked the shapeshifting abilities to replicate them.

She had come to appreciate some cuddles. Amethyst's hugs were ones of friendship; arms slung over each other's shoulders. Steven used hugs to show his seemingly boundless love for her, and sometimes she would hug him in return. Garnet felt safe, and calmed Peridot in her panics..

At home, however, there was no cuddling. Lapis did not like it. They sat on the couch together, a few feet apart, but perfectly close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Seymour Butts for the prompts!
> 
> A little personal history behind this one. I am a very physically affectionate person; I will hug and cuddle anyone who lets me (and sometimes those who don't...I'm working on that). As such, it was easy to think of reasons why Peridot would like hugs, but I wanted to end with a relationship that didn't need them. That and I don't think Lapis likes things touching her; she refuses to wear the hat, for instance. But they don't need that to be buds.


	9. My Pearl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet finds Rose's relationship with Pearl perplexing.

"My Pearl." 

Rose did not say the phrase often, but over hundreds of years not often happened a rather large number of times.

Sometimes it was said comfortingly, when Pearl was despairing at how useless she was in battle.

Sometimes it was said in jest, as if they were back on Homeworld and Rose did own Pearl.

Sometimes it seemed to be said possessively, as if Rose thought she did.

But sometimes it was said in the dazzling way a loyal gem may say "My Diamond".

Garnet hoped it was not the third, though even Rose might not be sure.


	10. Evolution.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Diamonds guide the flow of Gemkind like a river, and don't notice how they are eroding themselves.

"You shall be broken for this."  
"Failure shall result in shattering."  
The Diamonds used this punishment so often that, had they be organic, one could compare it to breathing. Not all failures, but enough over time.  
Enough that in the ranks immediately below the Diamonds had long been purged of any gem would admit failure to them.

They had carefully and selectively controled the population so that only the liars survived.

At some point they would be informed that there were at least twelve active resistance efforts against them.

And no one wanted to be the gem that told them.


	11. MeepMorps At The End of The World Part 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1: Despite Peridot's best efforts, she wasn't able to capture her feelings on the Cluster in her art.

When Peridot first started making MeepMorps, there was always a stack of materials and a clear space set aside for a very particular project.

Harsh metal to represent the drill. Objects carefully categorised by the colours of the layers she had seen in that terrifying descent. As her inability to portray her feelings about that drop grew, so did the range of materials and how abstract her thoughts became about them and how they explored her feelings.

By the time Lapis left with the barn, Peridot had created and dissembled twenty six Morps based on her experiences with the cluster.


	12. MeepMorps At The End of The World Part 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Diamonds attack, Peridot finds the words she wants to say to the cluster.

_Arm. Friend. Save. Fight. Tired. Diamonds? Diamonds. Die. Diamonds._

The Cluster’s fragmented thoughts flowed around each shard.

_Surface. Ship. Fight. Diamonds still? Help. Give. Friends? Bubble weak. Form strong. Can keep Earth safe? Break Earth?_

...

_Shaking. Above. Something._

The tip of a new drill, yellow pink and blue, carved from ships far above, pierced the cluster’s haven.

Pieces with eyes turned to stare. One of them from the first meeting, the yellow one, stepped forward, carrying a flat canvas.

“I’ve…well, I’ve got some other stuff for you. But. Here.”

Painted on, in old gem, were the words “Wow. Thanks.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gems hyperfocus on media very easily, and the Diamonds share power.

When, a few days after the arrival and stranding of the Diamonds on Earth, every Gem in Beach City found themselves randomly weeping, naturally Blue was assumed to be the cause. It was some surprise then that when confronted Blue merely brushed away tears that weren't hers and imperiously declared that it wasn't her powers.

Across town, Yellow Diamond rewound the cheesy sci-fi B-movie for the seventh time. "How can something so incorrect on space travel” She sobbed and dabbed her eyes with a bed sheet Greg had offered as a Diamond size tissue. “Yet be so _right_ on grief?"


End file.
